Newest judge in Drew Peterson case has spent decades in Will County courtrooms

Steve Schmadeke, Chicago Tribune reporter

When a man entered Judge Edward Burmila's courtroom on crutches earlier this year, muttering about being unable to take a drug test because he'd recently been shot in the bladder, court personnel didn't seem to know what to make of him.

They and other observers seemed frozen in shock as the man began urinating on the courtroom floor, but Burmila halted his crowded court and in a loud voice restored order by directing deputies to get medical help.

Burmila, 61, is hailed by experienced Will County attorneys as a master at handling unexpected difficulties, with knowledge gained from decades of legal experience as a prosecutor, defense attorney and judge.

It may prove useful now that he is presiding over the high-profile Drew Peterson murder trial. Burmila was assigned to the case Friday. The trial is expected to begin within months after being put on hold for almost two years during appeals over whether jurors could hear hearsay statements from Peterson's dead or missing wives.

Peterson, 58, is charged with drowning his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004. He is also the sole suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, in 2007, but he hasn't been charged.

Burmila started as a Will County prosecutor in 1977 after graduating from DePaul University law school. In about 10 years, he rose from handling traffic cases to taking on death penalty cases as the first assistant state's attorney.

"He's a scholar of the law," said Edward Masters, a former Will County state's attorney for whom Burmila worked. "He was always well prepared, knew the law, knew what the situation was."

Just getting up to speed on the complex Peterson case will be a daunting task. A defense attorney told Burmila on Friday that the transcripts from a roughly monthlong pretrial hearing in 2010 spanned five CDs.

But attorneys said Burmila, who also has some appellate experience, enjoys diving into cases. Burmila was in private practice for about 11 years before being appointed to the bench in 2003.

"I would guess that his hobby would be legal research," said Steven Haney, a Joliet attorney with a busy criminal practice. "Most judges will rely on the lawyers to do the research … but that doesn't happen with Judge Burmila."

Burmila was elected as a Republican candidate for Will County state's attorney in 1988. He was defeated by his Democratic opponent in 1992 after serving a single term.

His opponent? Current State's Attorney James Glasgow.

The two men have tangled a few times since. Burmila represented former state's attorney Judy DeVriendt, who was suspended by Glasgow in 1998 for her involvement in a case in which an infant was removed from his parent's custody and turned over to a U.S. Marine in South Carolina for a paternity test.

Glasgow initially defended the decision to remove the child but later changed course and blamed DeVriendt. Burmila called the move "classic Jim Glasgow scapegoatism," while Glasgow said Burmila was still sore about losing in 1992.

"This is a continuation of a personal vendetta by Ed Burmila against me," Glasgow said then.

But judging by Glasgow's comments on Friday, all that is water under the bridge.

"We've got a judge who truly understands criminal law," Glasgow said. "We're going to get a nice, fair trial and we're anxious to have it start."

Peterson's lawyers also were pleased by Burmila's selection. "He has an excellent reputation as a fine judge and … somebody who's a straight shooter," said Peterson's attorney Joel Brodsky.

Attorneys for both sides may want to wear a White Sox hat during their closing arguments. Burmila can sometimes be heard discussing games or players while off the bench and enjoys kidding attorneys about their clients' baseball allegiance.

"If someone comes in wearing a White Sox shirt, he will say, let the record show that the defendant is properly attired," said Joliet attorney Chuck Bretz. "He's loosening things up a little bit."